And, when the shiny blue jets disappeared into the northern horizon and after the smoke had cleared, the crowd of dozens of onlookers smiled from ear-to-ear in hopes that they'd scored a picture of the Blue Angels flying over the Navy's newest aviator memorial.

Unveiled Saturday, the Naval Air Station Lemoore Aviator Memorial Association dedicated the bronze statue of an aviator overlooking the fighter pilot's runway. Erik Kenny, the association's president, said the memorial is long overdue.

The Blue Angels fly over was in honor of the memorial's unveiling.

"We wanted a pilot overlooking the runway until the last pilot comes home," Kenny said. "Last summer, we sat down and said, 'we need to do something.' We wanted something to honor those who've sacrificed everything."

The memorial comes at a time when NAS Lemoore and the surrounding community continues to mourn the loss of Lt. Nathan Poloski, 26, originally of Lake Arrowhead. He and another pilot from NAS Lemoore crashed in mid-September while flying about 250 nautical miles off the coast of Wake Island and 2,300 miles west of Honolulu.

Saturday's memorial unveiling, while coincidental, was a fitting honor for Poloski, Kenny said. The fighter pilot is the third pilot from NAS Lemoore to have died in action since April 2011, when a jet flown by Lt. Matthew Lowe crashed near the base. Lt. Nathan Williams also died in the crash.

The recent deaths prompted the memorial, but while researching the deaths of pilots from Lemoore, Kenny and others learned that more pilots from Lemoore died during Vietnam than from any other base, Kenny said. 168 pilots were killed in action during the military action.

Those who attended Monday's flyover by the Blue Angels said there's nothing quite like it. They're happy Lemoore finally has a place to honor those who've fallen.

"It's an experience. We really wanted to see them fly over," said Mona Mayfield, who placed cotton balls in her grandson Noah's ears. "He's come out to watch the jets before, but these are the Blue Angels."

The memorial, which is open to the public, was sponsored heavily by local businesses, the Navy and numerous pilots, including those from the Blue Angels. The walk way is paved in bricks honoring those who made the memorial a possibility.

Kenny is hoping the memorial will bring more awareness to the nonprofit. He says the group brings families together after a tragedy and is hoping that increased support will allow the group to offer scholarships in the names of the fallen NAS Lemoore pilots and operators.

Directions:

• From Highway 198, once you enter the base from 198, stay to the left at the first fork in the road and drive for about five miles. The site, which is open to the public, will be on your left.